Nottinghamshire

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest are determined to keep full-back Neco Williams this summer amid late interest from Tottenham.

Spurs' interest in the 25-year-old is at an exploratory stage, but sources close to Forest insist the City Ground club will not consider selling the Wales international this summer.

Williams proved a crucial player last season and is expected to play a key role for new manager Oliver Glasner this time around. Forest remain in talks with the former Liverpool defender over a new contract and it is their intention to extend his current deal - which expires in summer 2929 - to reflect his importance to the squad.

Reds boss Glasner has an interest in Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall, which poses a potential discussion point between the two clubs, but Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi has insisted the 20-year-old Sweden international will stay in north London.

Tottenham have sold defender Djed Spence to Inter Milan and are open to signing a replacement - and it is understood De Zerbi would prefer one with Premier League experience.

Like Spence, Williams - who has made over 150 Premier League appearances - can play on both flanks, but is predominantly a left-back.

Spurs have options on the left in Destiny Udogie, Any Robertson and Ben Davies. Udogie is understood to have interest from Italy, while Robertson and Davies are in the latter stages of their careers.

At right-back, Pedro Porro is first choice but there is no direct competition - though Archie Gray can fill in.

As a result, there is a will at Spurs to sign a younger, versatile full-back before the window closes at 23:00 BST on 1 September.

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest head coach Oliver Glasner said he is "confident" two more players will arrive at the club before the end of the transfer window - and one of those new signings could be Chelsea striker Liam Delap.

The 23-year-old, who left Ipswich Town in a £30m deal in June 2025, could be available for £50m this summer, as reported by BBC Sport's Nizaar Kinsella and Sami Mokbel.

Delap is training separately from Xabi Alonso's first-team squad, having only scored two goals and registered four assists in 41 appearances last season.

It is unclear whether the Reds would prefer a permanent transfer or a loan deal but it appears the writing is on the wall for his future at Stamford Bridge, having lost the number nine shirt to Joao Pedro.

His arrival in the East Midlands would provide competition for Chris Wood, Igor Jesus and Arnaud Kalimuendo, following Taiwo Awoniyi's exit to Coventry City.

The club recently announced Wood would wear the number nine shirt this season, with Jesus taking up the vacant number 11 shirt.

Do Forest need another striker in their ranks? Would you be happy with this signing? Would Delap come in as the club's first choice?

Get in touch with your views here

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking to the media before Tuesday's Carabao Cup second-round tie against Leeds United at the City Ground (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Ryan Yates and Nicolo Savona remain sidelined, while Morgan Gibbs-White will also miss Tuesday's game with a knock he got in Saturday's opening Premier League defeat by Leeeds.

• Glasner said Gibbs-White doesn't have any "structural damage" to his knee, but he is in pain so "it doesn't make sense to play him".

• He said "there will be moderate rotation" for the cup tie because they need "fresh legs" to compete against Leeds.

• On his previous experience of winning cups: "I always try to create an environment with the correct attitude to make it possible. I'm no magician to make them win anything, but we will play to win the game."

• On the learnings from Saturday's loss: "The performance was OK, but not a top performance. We analysed the game and showed the players many clips. I could see many promising signs that we are going in the right direction, but there are, of course, many parts we still need to improve."

• He said they "defended set-pieces very well and created a few good opportunities," but Leeds also "defended well and very aggressively".

• On Murillo: "He had a very good performance. I probably should have subbed him a little bit earlier because I could feel he was getting fatigued. I asked him a few times during the game, but he wanted to continue playing. I always trust my players. He needs the minutes to be the Murillo everyone knows."

• On whether the defeat exposed some areas they need to look into the transfer market for: "It would just be panic if we started judging the players off one game. We know what they are capable of."

• He is "confident" that two more players will sign before the end of the transfer window, but he wouldn't say names or what positions they play.

Listen to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra commentary of Nottingham Forest v Leeds United from 19:00 on Tuesday

Got a question about Forest? Get in touch here and we'll seek answers from our experts

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and Leeds.

Here are some of your comments:

Forest fans

Tom: Despite the change of manager, Forest have the same old problems of creating chances and putting them away while always being prone to a defensive blunder. Difficult to watch it play out the way I feared.

Tony: Thought a draw would have been a fair result. But you have to put your chances away. Fair play to Leeds they did just that.

Fosi: I thought team selection shows we are still short of a quality striker! Average display and the late goal was poor. I thought goalkeeper should have stopped it. Short of two or three quality additions!

Chris: Disappointing. We looked toothless and too passive with too much sideways, backwards passing - and some of that didn't always reach a red shirt. Room for improvement - must try harder.

Leeds fans

Kevin: Great start to the season, three points away from home where we got battered last year. A draw on the cards until Stach stepped up with great strike. No lack of endeavour from Leeds but quality lacking. Defence were outstanding and will take some beating this season. Trafford provided some much needed stability at the back.

Shaun: Disciplined at the back, needed to be a bit sharper up front. Overall a good away performance and a valuable three points.

Neil: Doesn't matter about performance yet - win first and work on improvements for the next game. After five games things will have settled down a bit, then we can start looking at performance.

Mark: Solid at the back but work to do on keeping the ball in midfield. Calvert-Lewin was a bit lonely up front. Trafford gave everyone around him confidence and was great with the ball at his feet. Work to be done, but my goodness I'll take that start to the season.

Radio Nottingham's analyst Jack Colback thinks James McAtee needs a run of games in the Forest side.

McAtee was selected for the opener against Leeds but Colback thinks he now needs time to build confidence.

McAtee featured for 74 minutes as Forest suffered a late 1-0 defeat to Leeds, extending Forest's poor opening-day record to six defeats in their last eight league-season openers (W1 D1).

The result also continued their difficult home form, with Forest now winning just one of their last 12 home league matches (D7 L4).

Hit play above to hear Colback and get all your Forest audio here on BBC Sounds

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Oliver Glasner said after victory in Nottingham Forest's friendly against Brest last Sunday that they were working on "two or three" deals.

Last summer, five of their signings came in the last 12 days, with winger Dilane Bakwa joining on deadline day, and there is time left for reinforcements.

Forest are looking at quality over quantity and moving with precision in the window takes more time, especially in their pursuit of Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall, with the Sweden international now likely to stay in north London.

But Forest need the fresh impetus, the new faces and voices to add to the quality they already possess in Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White in particular.

"I don't expect anyone for Tuesday but two more players, two different positions. The club is working hard to get the deals done and that's it," said Glasner after Saturday's home loss to Leeds United.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke is the third-longest serving Premier League manager after moving to Elland Road in July 2023 and last season's 14th place gives the German the foundation for success this time around.

They can be an example to Forest, who have ambitions to return to Europe having reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last season, of how to build with the same head coach.

Saturday's loss can be a minor setback if there is a quick recovery - starting at home against Leeds again in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

"This [a defeat] always gives me a great feedback, how we deal with this situation," added Glasner. "We do not bury our heads in the sand so we are focusing on what we need to do and what we have done well."